BUZZWORD COMPLIANT DICTIONARY
O

O3: Business shorthand commonly used in calendar entries for "Out Of Office."
Nominated by Will Duckworth

OBC: Owned by China. The awakening Chinese economy no longer is just the target of outside companies looking for a place to market their goods. Chinese companies are increasingly buying operations in the U.S. and Europe to strut their own brands in the global economy.

ocular inspection: To look at, inspect, to see with your own eyes. Once a medical reference, now it's a staple of bureaucratic language. "We'll have to make an ocular inspection to see if the boundaries are correct."
Nominated by Ken Naparsteck

office: Thanks to technology, "office" has morphed into a verb. "I'm going to office from home today." Or, "I'll manage the New York staff but will office out of Atlanta.
Nominated by Thad Bartlett

offline: Primarily, it’s wherever you are when you’re not on the Internet. But now it has become an office catch phrase heard frequently in meeting. "That's a great idea, but let's deal with that offline after the meeting."
Nominated by Steve Witte

ohno-second: The fraction of time (slightly longer than a nanosecond) that it takes to recognize you've just goofed. The perfect example: That moment of horror when your eye spots the key in the ignition as the car door is being slammed shut.

OHOC, OHOT: According to London's Evening Standard, psychologists report that women scanning personal ads are more interested in a man with wealth -- OHOC (own house, own car) -- than one with good looks -- OHOT (own hair, own teeth).
Nominated by Richard Jasinski

oldbies: They were Internet "newbies" only six years ago -- struggling to find their way through cyberspace and derisively tolerated by early Net pioneers. Today, they're the majority of users and the driving consumer force on the Internet.

Olympic tourist: An Olympic athlete with no chance of winning a medal, but enjoys every moment of just being there.

one-click politics: The ability to vote, share your opinion or make a donation to a political candidate with a click of your mouse. This growing extension of democracy comes with its own flood of political spam (often with bandwidth eating video messages from the candidates).
Nominated by Mark Worden

one-off: Limited to a single occurrence, such as a one-time event or meeting. The definition has been expanded recently to also mean "one-to-one, offline." As in: "Let's do this one-off after the meeting."
Nominated by Jo Morris, Sharon Coates-Jonasson

one throat to choke: The corporate purchasing philosophy of buying or contracting everything (particularly technology solutions) from a single vendor. That way if anything goes wrong there's only one throat to choke.
Nominated by Samara Romagnola

oniony: Something that sounds or appears real, but likely is the product of someone’s imagination, much like a story in The Onion, the news satire Web site. "The story about the exploding underpants seems kind of oniony."
Nominated by Fritz Liess

onshoring: The return of jobs previously “offshored,” particularly after a company discovers it’s customers are frustrated having to deal with customer service representatives half a world away.
Nominated by Ken Thomas

on task: In school, you used to get rapped on the knuckles any time you weren’t on task.

1K buffer: If a techie says you have a 1K buffer, he's not talking about your computer – he's insulting you. It means you have a particularly low capacity for learning and remembering new things: "He's got a 1K buffer when it comes to the new accounting software."

1-to-1, 1:1, one-to-one: A marketing concept created by authors Don Pepper and Martha Rogers and turned into a marketing consultancy empire. 1-to-1 marketing lives and breathes personalization and customization in building relationships with customers. Outside the Pepper and Rogers world, it’s called customer relationship management (CRM).

online oxygen: Where "going online" was once the domain of a few million infatuated geeks and academics, the integration of online access into daily life has made a connection to the Internet an absolute necessity -- online oxygen -- for 600 million global consumers. Or at least that's what Trendwatching.com says.

open-air conference room: An area outside the building where employees convene to discuss business while grabbing a quick smoke. "Let's have this meeting in my open-air conference room."

Open Issues List (OIL): A favorite of consultants and project management experts, it's simply a list of issues that need to be resolved in order to complete a project. "We can finish this project quickly if we just apply OIL."
Nominated by David Bogenhagen

operationalize: A weighty-sounding buzz term preferred by consultants that simply means "put into action" or implement. "The next phase is to operationalize our strategy."
Nominated by Andrew Lord

opportunity: Something bestowed upon you by your boss that provides all of the stress of taking on additional job responsibilities with absolutely no increase in financial compensation.
Nominated by Erik Schroeppel

optics: Business jargon for "how things appear." A favorite of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, who wanted to create a new way of looking at the business world through the rosy lenses of the New Economy. Enron's optics, by the way, are not good these days.
Nominated by Kathy Willhoite

opt-in, opt-out: If there were official Laws of E-mail Marketing, these terms would be No. 1 and No. 2. They are what separates legitimate e-mail from spam. If a person chooses to receive a marketer's information by e-mail or direct mail, he/she opts-in to be included on the mailing list. The reverse of this is opt-out, meaning the marketer sends you the info by e-mail and "gives" you the "opportunity" to remove yourself from the list.
Nominated by Leslie Nelson

oranging up: A sign that the weather is getting warmer. It's when the USA Today weather map turns from cool blues and greens to warm yellows, oranges and reds.
Nominated by Terry Porter

organigram: A chart or diagram of a company's organizational structure and hierarchy. And if "organigram" doesn't seem awkward enough, it's frequently spelled "organogram."
Nominated by Lovell Fuller

OT-mail: An unnecessary, after-hours e-mail sent to a supervisor or co-workers with the sole purpose of time-stamping how late you worked.. Example: An e-mail sent to boss at 9:24 p.m. -- "Just wanted to touch base on the Johnson account. Let me know when we can meet."
Nominated by Chris Rock

out of office: The annoying subject line of auto-reply e-mail that announces everyone else is on vacation or at a cool conference while you’re still slaving away at work.

out-of-pocket: In financial circles, it refers to expenses paid out of your own pocket. "I'm trying to get reimbursed for my out-of-pocket expenses." But the term has also come to mean "unavailable." "I've got two meetings this afternoon, so I'll be out-of-pocket for awhile."
Nominated by Hal Dunn

out of runway: The point when you realize that no matter how hard you work it'll be impossible to meet an approaching deadline. "We're just about out of runway. If we don't get those reports today, we'll never make next week's launch."
Nominated by Matt Baker

outshored: The practice of outsourcing a company's computer programming needs and development to a country where high tech labor is cheap (China and India come to mind).

outside opportunity: Corporate-speak frequently used to explain an employee's departure. "Jack has left the company to pursue outside opportunities." Odds are "Jack" got fired.
Nominated by Guy Chase

over-glassed: A building or geographic area with far more fiber optic cable than will ever be needed. Generally the result of either poor engineering or great salesmanship.
Nominated by Daniel Hall-Stith

over normal: To be above a standard or accepted level. "I don't consider myself fat, I'm just over normal."
Nominated by Stu Glazebrook

over-the-shoulder guidance: Training that promises to be more personal than a seminar or lecture, but less specific than one-on-one instruction. "Our professional services staff are experienced in providing on-site, over-the-shoulder guidance and support." Also, some bosses' annoying style of management.
Nominated by Ann Olson

Ozzied, Ozzy'd: An Alzheimer-like condition. The patient can remember the '60s but can’t remember what he did two minutes ago. "He's Ozzied." A reference to Ozzy Osbourne -- poster child for Baby Boomer drug abuse. Mug, shirts available
Nominated by Michael Troiano